Hmm... this time, I finished making the revisions to this series before I
finished the Patlabor episode... ah, well, I should be ready to send the
episode out tomorrow (I HOPE I'll be ready to send it out tomorrow- I want
to write another fanfic, a standalone, before the weeks out (sorta because
it fits in with the halloween season, at least in the planning stages...)
and I ALSO want time to finish the next chapter of THIS series before too
long...  sheesh, maybe this'll be the end of my 'episode and chapter a
week,' but I was hoping I'd be able to keep it up longer than this).  Ah,
well, enough babbling.  Here we go, Three Souls One Heart Chapter 6.  C&C
requested (as I've told a couple people, it might not change what I have
written in the series, but if it makes sense it might change what I'll
write in the series and in fanfics to come) in any form, unless you're
Gubby (I know what you think of it, already, Gubby- and don't try sending
comments on it to the RAAF like you have with some other fics I've seen,
either).  Back chapters ARE available on my home page (or you can e-mail
me- I don't remember if the last chapter I put on my page was 4 or 5, so
that might be best).  Hmm, I'm probably forgetting to mention something, oh
well.  Here's the fanfic- enjoy...

Chapter 6:

"Ready, Akane?" Ranma asked.  During their all-too-brief planning session
in Akane's mind, they had decided to do three things: get used to touching
each other, get go out on a few dates together, and get everyone they could
to leave them alone for the next week or so.  Their first target for that
last one was a certain annoying group of relatives.

With a deep intake of breath, Akane nodded.  It was time for all of the
people interfering in their lives to go away, anyway, and this situation
with the Oni was perhaps just the motivation they needed to get started. 
'In a way,' she thought idly, 'This whole mess is a good thing for us... IF
it doesn't rush us too much.'

"Akane?" Ranma asked, looking into her eyes to make sure he was speaking to
the right individual.

"Huh?  Oh, yeah... time to face the music."

They stepped through the doors to where Nodoka had gathered the family. 
After Nabiki had been dragged off by Kasumi, Nodoka stationed herself at
the doorway to Akane's room, just to make sure no-one interrupted them- and
to make sure Ranma had someone to back him up in case there was trouble. 
She was rather surprised when she was asked to assemble the families
(conscious, if possible- which meant she had to wake her husband and Soun
from their drunken slumber) in the dojo so they could announce what was
going on.  She was also disturbed by seeing the horns of the Oni still
stuck on Akane's head.

Ranma grasped Akane's hand gently and led her inside.  Akane found herself
forced to ignore the shock of his sudden tender touch, and blushed as she
realized she'd have to get used to MUCH more than that before the end of
the week.  The thought nearly made her despair- why did she have to agree
to rush things?  Why couldn't she and Ranma ever have a NORMAL
relationship?  It had finally looked like they were going to have one, and
then this whole situation with the Oni happened...  Akane felt like she
needed a release, but controlled herself.  Right now, she was standing in
front of her family, holding hands with her fiancee and future lover, and
she needed to stay strong for the next few minutes.  When she was alone and
this mess was over, then she could cry, but not until then.

Ranma could almost feel Akane's distress, and vaguely wondered if that
could be a side effect of the link they'd shared.  Deciding not to question
whatever it was that was allowing him to discern her mood, he gave her hand
an extra reassuring squeeze before releasing it and facing their family. 
Everyone in the room was too distracted by the horns still on Akane's head
to notice that they'd ever been touching- which was fortunate, since it
would have probably resulted in the two fathers wrecking the meeting with
cries of joy at the future union of their two families.  Not that they
wouldn't have been justified, for once.

"So, Ranma," Nabiki growled, displeased at being knocked out, and even more
displeased at the results of their little chat where he'd accused her of
hating both him and her own sister.  Whether that was because it was
untrue, or because it hit too close to home, Nabiki herself didn't know. 
"Why haven't you freed my sister yet?"

"Because I can't yet," Ranma answered.

Soun, suffering a hangover, was not willing to shout at Ranma, but
nonetheless found a way to express his displeasure.  With a barely
controlled growl of anger, Soun said, "Would you mind explaining that,
son?"

"I can't use a ward to free her- it would harm another spirit which has
latched itself onto her as her protector."  He glared at everyone in front
of him.  "And I will NOT hit her or let her be hit by anyone else, if I can
help it."

Akane's father raised an eyebrow and nodded approvingly at that last point.
 He wouldn't let anyone hit his daughters if he could help it, either. 
Perhaps it was a good sign that Ranma was finally standing up for his
fiance.

"Then how are we going to return Akane to normal?" Nodoka asked, trying to
get to the heart of the matter.

Ranma and Akane looked at each other one time.  Akane nodded, and he
returned his attention to the families.  "We've made a deal with the Oni. 
It will release Akane forever and never harm any of us, but in return Akane
and I have to remove a curse Happosai placed on it."

Genma blinked.  "How do you remove a curse from an Oni?  For that matter,
how do you PLACE a curse on an Oni?"

Akane smiled slightly.  "Ranma asked almost exactly the same thing.  The
curse is serving the greater evil...."

"And the Master is more evil than the Oni," Genma finished, nodding.  Then
he looked curiously at Akane.  "Or should I say, the Master is more evil
than YOU?  I don't know if your kind likes being referred to in the third
person or not."

Akane was momentarily confused, but soon figured out what Genma was talking
about.  "Uh, you should just call me Akane.  The Oni isn't in control right
now- Ranma knows how to tell if it's me or not, so just ask him if you're
unsure."

They all looked at Ranma, who nodded.  "The trick is to look into her
eyes," he explained.

"'Eyes are the windows to the soul,'" Nodoka quoted.  "But that still
leaves half the question unanswered.  How do you remove a curse on an Oni?"

"Well, um," Akane began, looking at Ranma desperately.  "You fulfill the
conditions of the curse."

"And those conditions are?" Nabiki asked, making it plainly obvious Akane
would not get away with hiding anything.

Ranma looked back at Akane, who nodded in return.  Sighing, he looked at
the families.  "If anyone says anything about how good a thing this is,
expect an extended trip to the hospital," he warned.  That drew confused
looks from everyone.

"Why would we say this is a GOOD thing?" Soun asked.

"Because..." Ranma began.  "The cure to the Oni's curse is to be in the
body of someone while they have sssss... sssss..."

"Sssss?" Nabiki parodied.

"While they have sex," Akane finished.  "I agreed to seduce Ranma for the
Oni."

Kasumi, who had (as usual) been standing quietly in the background,
blinked.  "Oh... my."

Soun and Genma gasped, and almost expressed their joy at Akane's
pronouncement until they saw Ranma's face, and wisely kept their mouths
shut.  Nodoka merely smiled proudly at her son.  Truly, he was a manly man-
or if he wasn't, he was about to become one.  Akane would see to that.

Nabiki needed a few seconds to recover, and looked at Ranma angrily.  "Then
we have no choice, do we?" she said... and, for the second time that day,
threw a punch at her younger sister.

Ranma was taken by surprise, but Akane wasn't.  She caught the fist before
it hit- more out of instinct than anything else.  Nabiki's other hand came
around... and Akane saw another ward in it.

Ranma was not taken by surprise, that time.  Faster than anyone could
blink, he deflected the path of Nabiki's arm and tore the ward out of her
hand.

Nabiki backed off and narrowed her eyes at Ranma.  "I knew it- the ward
would have fixed the whole problem, but you don't care, do you?  I bet you
knew what the Oni would ask her to do- that's why you didn't let us get rid
of it before, and that's why you don't want us to get rid of it now- you
just want to get inside my little sister's panties!" she screamed.

"You think I WHAT?!" Ranma cried in shock.  "What are you talking about? 
You heard us say the reason we couldn't use the ward would be because it
would destroy a friend of hers- a guardian spirit!  And I am in NO rush to
get into her panties!"

Akane looked at Ranma, a little hurt.  That almost felt like one of his old
insulting reactions to the allegations his friends made about him and Akane
sleeping together before.

Nabiki, on the other hand, didn't believe him one bit.  "Oh, come on-
you've wanted her from the moment you first saw her!  I don't care one damn
about that spirit you keep talking about, and I don't believe my little
sister would, either!"

"Nabiki!" Soun cried, having recovered enough from his shock to finally
speak.  "You're being irrational!"

"If it weren't for that spirit," Ranma growled, "You wouldn't have a
younger sister to disbelieve right now!  She would have died at Jusendou."

"Oh come on!" Nabiki snorted, turning to appeal to her family.  "Don't you
people see it?  Where did this Oni come from?  Why did Ranma make that
mistake on those wards the first time it showed up, anyway?  How come Ranma
listened to a POSSESSED Akane in the first place!?"

"Nabiki..." Kasumi began.  "While I think that Ranma and Akane doing this
is... improper... I believe you're letting your hatred of Ranma cloud your
judgment.  Ranma cannot control evil spirits or curses, and you're acting
like he does."

Nabiki glared at her older sister, and turned to her father.  Ranma started
whispering something in Akane's ear as Nabiki said, "Am I the only one who
sees what's going on around here?"

Soun just shook his head sadly at her outburst.  What was wrong with his
two older daughters?  Could they not see how good this would be for the
family?

Nabiki squawked as she felt her wrist firmly grasped and something wrapped
around it.  Looking in the direction of her attacker, she saw Ranma
wrapping the ward he had taken from her on her wrist... much like the one
she just noticed which was on HIS wrist.  When he was done, Akane came
forward and took her hand, and in a moment, the world around her faded
away.

*	*	*	*	*

"Where am I?!" Nabiki screamed.  "What's going on?"

"Hi, sis."  Akane's voice caught her attention.  Nabiki looked in her
direction, and saw a beachball with arms she recognized as the Oni, Akane
with her long hair in her school dress, and a small doll she couldn't
place.  "Ranma thought you might want to talk to me alone.  You know, he
was initially even more reluctant to let me stay possessed than you were,
but he was patient enough to give me a chance to explain- something I was
sure you would have been.  I guess I don't know you as well as I thought."

"Akane?" Nabiki blinked, confused.  "Where are we?  What are you talking
about?"

"Let me tell you about the discussion he and I had when you left...."

*	*	*	*	*

"Oh, my!" Kasumi exclaimed.  Everyone was a little unnerved by how Nabiki
and Akane had suddenly slumped to their knees while their eyes glazed over.

"What's going on?" Nodoka asked her son, seeing how he seemed to be the
least concerned of them all.

"MY POOR CHILDREN!" Soun cried, restrained from rushing to his two younger
daughters by Genma.

"Relax, everyone," Ranma soothed.  "The multiple possessions gave Akane an
extra ability or two, and one of them is to talk to other people in their
heads.  I admit it is a little... disturbing... to see it out here like
this, but it'll be over in a moment.  Oh, and the ward is to keep anyone
from manipulating Nabiki's mind."

"Ranma," Kasumi began.  "About what Nabiki was saying-"

"Wait," Ranma said- almost ordered.  "Akane and Nabiki will snap out of
this any second now- you can talk for hours like this and it will only take
a minute or two."

"Ranma," Nodoka asked slowly.  "How do you know the Oni will keep its word
and leave Akane after she seduces you?"

Ranma grinned.  "You don't live my life without learning a few things about
spirits.  One time, when I was going through some books Dr. Tofu lent me
trying to find a cure for my curse, I discovered that even evil spirits
have to keep oaths they make- they can twist those oaths, and find
loopholes, but they can't break them."

Nodoka blinked.  "Who is Dr. Tofu?"

"Oh, that's right," Ranma realized.  "You've never met him.  He was the
Tendou family doctor for a while... to tell you the truth, I don't know
what happened to him.  Do you, Kasumi?"

The only Tendou sister still conscious shook her head.  "I'm sorry, Ranma-
no, I don't.  I wish I did, because I've still got a few books I borrowed
from him, but he closed his clinic a few months ago and I haven't seen him
since."

Ranma blinked.  "Not even a note on the door?"  Kasumi shook her head. 
"That's odd...."  Still wondering, he turned his attention back to the
other sisters, and waited.

*	*	*	*	*

Nabiki frowned.  Akane had just spent hours explaining everything, but some
of the details still bugged her.  "Okay, I understand now why you don't
want to let us use the wards, and I understand that you... THINK... you
love Ranma enough to be able to stand sleeping with him, if there is no
other choice-"

"I don't THINK I love him, Nabiki.  I showed you how I felt about him- you
should know that."

"Well, maybe," she answered nervously.  The truth was Nabiki had been
overwhelmed by the emotions even more than Ranma had- she'd never
experienced feelings that intense before, and to have them dumped on her
like that....  "But, anyway, I still don't understand why you won't let us
try just knocking the Oni out of you."

Akane sighed.  "You couldn't if you tried.  The Oni and Iria have enhanced
my speed and skills a lot- more than even Dougi-sama did, and they'll keep
me from letting you hit me.  The Oni, because that would disrupt its plans,
and Iria, because she WANTS me to do this."  Nabiki grimaced- she didn't
exactly like how much her little sister still trusted this former succubus,
and Iria's desire to see Akane sleep with RANMA, of all people, made her
even more uncomfortable about it.  "The only person who could, and who I
trust to do so, would never be able to bring himself to hit me."

"You mean Ranma," Nabiki commented.  After waiting for Akane to nod, she
continued, "I still don't see why you think he wouldn't, if you asked him
to.  After all, didn't he get into a fight with you in order to stop that
very same Dougi you mentioned?  And you didn't even want him to, then!"

Akane nodded.  "Yes, but you weren't fighting him, were you?  He was
SERIOUSLY limiting himself in that fight- he was only going for that
yin-yang symbol, and I could tell he was pulling his punches so they were
feather-light.  They wouldn't be hard enough to effect the Oni."

"I still don't buy it," Nabiki frowned.  "He MUST know it will hurt you
more to be forced like this than it would to be hit ONCE.  I mean, you
could explain it to him- how this is almost like rape-"

"IT ISN'T LIKE RAPE!" Akane hissed.  "If I wasn't willing to do this with
him at some point, it might be like rape, but I have... wanted to... for a
while now.  I don't think we're ready, but-"

"That's just it!" Nabiki shouted.  "You AREN'T ready- and he should know
this.  YOU know it will hurt more in the long run...."

"Well," Akane hesitated, trying to say something she didn't want to admit. 
"No, I don't.  I think... I mean, this will... I mean, this might have
several advantages to waiting."

Nabiki blinked.  "What?"

"It would mean he was MINE!" Akane exclaimed.  "I mean... if he and I were
to... then the other fiancees couldn't take him from me.  This is just
an... excuse for rushing things."

"Akane, you know it would be safer not to let this happen- who knows what
strings are attached to deals with Oni!" Nabiki bargained desperately.

"Nabiki...." Akane hesitated.  How to explain what she wanted?  "I love
Ranma.  A lot.  I can't really say it out loud yet, so when you and I break
this connection I probably wouldn't admit it if you were to ask me
directly, but I do.  I wish we weren't forced into this, but... I want it
to happen.  I don't want to rush things, but I also worry what would happen
if I don't."  She sighed.  "Ranma loves me.  A lot.  He doesn't like
hitting me if there is any choice that he can see... but he would if I told
him it hurt me more to not be hit by him.  But I'm not going to do that,
because I WANT this to happen, if as nothing more than an excuse to do
something I WANT to do."

"Akane," Nabiki started slowly.  "You're babbling- and you still haven't
said anything about the possible strings attached.  Tell you what- if you
want, I'll get rid of the other fiancees.  No charge, even.  Don't let the
Oni stay in you, just get Ranma to punch it out.  We'll catch it, send it
on its way, and I'll let you and Ranma build yourselves up to this at a
more normal pace, and have... well, I don't think I'll have any
complaints."

Akane shook her head.  "I want to make up for the lost time the other
fiancees have taken from us, and I'm willing to take the risks.  I WANT a
normal relationship with Ranma, but no-one would ever let us have that- you
hate him, our parents keep trying to force us together, all the girls keep
trying to steal Ranma from me and all the guys keep trying to steal me from
Ranma, we're always getting involved in these dangerous problems involving
people like Happosai, Tarou, Saffron, Toma....  No, there's no way Ranma
and I can have a normal relationship.  His curse alone presents problems- I
don't want to be thought of as in love with a girl!  But... I'm in love
with him, so doesn't that mean his girl side goes along with that?"

"Akane-"

"No- let me finish!" Akane breathed.  "We can't have a normal relationship.
 We can't even have a somewhat normal relationship.  For that reason,
whatever the risks, I'll take anything I can get that can give us a BETTER
relationship."

"Akane...." Nabiki hesitated.  "I can see that you aren't going to believe
me when I say this is a terrible idea.  I don't trust the Oni, I don't
trust Iria, and I don't trust Ranma- and so I don't want this to happen. 
But if you want... there's nothing I can do to stop you."

"Thank you, Nabiki... you won't tell Ranma about anything we've talked
about here, right?  He doesn't know why I didn't ask him to just knock it
out of me, and I'd like it to stay that way."

Nabiki looked at her younger sister and shrugged.  Trying to break the
tension, she answered, "Five thousand yen."

Akane grinned lopsidedly.  "Ranma's my fiancee, and he's supposed to turn
over control of his money to me when we're married, right?  Well, take it
out of his account, will you?"

Nabiki laughed.  "My pleasure.  Now, let's get back to the real world,
okay?"

*	*	*	*	*

Nabiki and Akane blinked and stood up, releasing their hands.  Grinning
slightly, the elder of the two turned to Ranma.  "Five thousand yen."

"Huh?"

"Hush money," Nabiki explained, turning to wink at Akane.  "Five thousand
yen.  I've accepted that there's no other way for you two to do this, but
if you don't want me telling the world about what I learned, you'd better
pay up.


Ranma, not sure WHAT, exactly, he was hushing up, nodded nervously.  "Take
it from my account."

"Wait," Kasumi interrupted.  "I don't agree with this.  It isn't proper for
Ranma and Akane to... do that before they're married-"

"Oh, stow it, Kasumi," Ranma countered, annoyed at Kasumi for perhaps the
first time in his life.  "Akane and I KNOW that you arranged for us to walk
into the bathroom on each other."

Kasumi blushed.  "Well, you can look, but you shouldn't touch...."

Soun looked at his oldest daughter in shock as she basically admitted to
Ranma's accusation.  He'd never heard of her doing such a thing before, and
he couldn't picture his sweet and innocent Kasumi doing that.

"Something I don't understand," Genma began.  "Why did you two feel the
need to get us all together and tell us?  You didn't need to.  You could
have just done the deed without any of us the wiser.  You don't want to get
married first, do you?"

"No, we don't- not yet.  And no, we couldn't just 'do the deed,'" Ranma
replied.  "We weren't ready for it- we still aren't.  We're going to need
to build ourselves up to it- and we aren't going to be able to for a
while."

"Part of building ourselves up to it," Akane continued for him, "Is dealing
with some of the problems in our relationship.  And, frankly, you people
have been one major problem."

Kasumi and Genma looked confused, Soun started crying, and Nodoka... looked
on curiously.  Nabiki was not surprised at all- she knew that everyone in
the families had been a problem for their relationship, but since she
hadn't approved of that relationship she never did anything about it.

"My youngest daughter hates me," Soun sobbed while being patted on the back
sympathetically by Ranma's father.

"Relax, dad, I don't hate you- we don't hate any of you.  But you are...
annoying," Akane explained.

"Every time you saw the slightest hint of an attraction between us, you
people blew it out of proportion, videotaping it, and basically getting in
the way and breaking it up," Ranma continued for Akane, returning the
favor.  "I figure getting you to promise to leave us alone won't be enough.
 I also figure it's too dangerous for Akane and I to, say, go out and have
a training trip alone, because... well, quite frankly, we're still not sure
what the Oni can or will do.  If it causes trouble, it better be here in
Nerima where there are a number of people who can come and help contain
it."

"So you want us to leave," Nabiki deduced.

"Yes and no," Ranma answered.  "We want most of you to leave.  Not
everyone- mom, you can stay.  We need someone who can cook, so we don't get
into a fight over Akane's cooking, and Kasumi is too against this...
solution... for our comfort."

"But I-" The oldest sister began, looking stricken.

"Kasumi," Akane began.  "I'm not certain why you acted like you did- when
you get back, I'm going to want a full answer.  But don't think we're mad
at you- we just don't trust you for this."

Soun couldn't believe how harsh the two of them were being to Kasumi- no
one EVER spoke to her that way before, and to think that Ranma and Akane
were doing so now....

"We made arrangements before this meeting," Ranma continued.  "With a
friend of Akane's whose family has a home in Kanazawa.  This house is
currently unoccupied because it is undergoing renovations, but there is
habitable room for four, and working water, gas, and electricity.  We want
the four of you to go to that house, and stay there for a week while Akane
and I get ready to... remove this curse."

"What about school?" Nodoka asked.

Ranma's eyes widened.  He'd forgotten that classes started up again before
their preparatory week would be over.  "Well... I guess Akane and I will
have to miss it."

His mother frowned.  "But it's the first week.  If you miss it, you'll miss
so much!"

"Yes, well," Ranma began, looking at Akane's horns.  "It might not be a
good idea considering how our rivals seem to act."

"Your rivals will find you whether you stay home or go to school," Soun
answered, assuming his fatherly pose.  "Ranma, you may not care about your
own, but what about Akane's education?"

Nabiki smiled- Ranma and Akane had never even considered this one.  Perhaps
there was a chance this deal with the Oni would be ruined, after all....

Ranma sighed, not sure how to deal with this.  In desperation, he looked
over at Akane.  "Do you want to go... as you are?"

"As I am?" Akane asked, looking over at Ranma suspiciously.

"Well, those Oni horns are kinda hard to miss."

Akane felt her head, as if realizing for the first time the demon in her
showed.  "I'd completely forgotten about them... oh, no."

"You could always wear a hat," Kasumi suggested helpfully.

"Hats aren't part of the school uniform," Nabiki answered for her younger
sister.

"Oh, how many people have gotten into trouble for not wearing the uniform,
anyway?" Akane replied after a minute.  "Kunou, Ukyou, and Ranma never
have.  A hat it is."

Ranma sighed- he was worried Akane would decide to go, and it looked like
he was right.  "Akane, you know this is going to cause problems.  Shampoo
will glomp me on the way to school, like she almost always does.  Kunou
will try and fight both of us for a date.  Ukyou will-"

"Yes, Ranma, I know it will cause problems," Akane said, dismissing them
with a hand.  "We'll have just as many problems when those same people come
by the home to find out why we weren't in school, and we'll have Ms. Hinako
on our backs as well."

Ranma grit his teeth, annoyed that she wasn't seeing things his way, but
gave up.  He never could get Akane to do what was good for her- that was
probably one of the reasons he cared about her so much.  "Fine.  School it
is.  But if it looks like it'll be more problems than it's worth, we're
going to stop going, got it?"

Akane nodded.  "Deal."  A car horn was heard beeping out front.  "Wow- it's
here already.  I think that's the taxi we ordered for you guys.  Hurry up
and get out of here- we'll talk more when you get back."

"Taxi?" Genma asked, confused.

"To take you to Kanazawa- hurry up!  We don't want the taxi to leave
thinking it has the wrong house, do we?"

*	*	*	*	*

After a quick explanation to the driver of the taxi, Nabiki, Kasumi, and
the two fathers packed up in a hurry and boarded the van.  In less than an
hour, only Akane, Ranma, and Nodoka were left in the Tendou estate.

"Well, time to go to bed," Nodoka said.  "I'll see you in the morning. 
Good night."

"Good night," the two fiancees chorused.  Slowly, they trudged up the
stairs.  Ranma started to break off in the direction of his room before
being caught by the back of the shirt by Akane.

"Where do you think YOU'RE going?" she asked.

"To my bed- to sleep!" he answered, not understanding her problem.

Akane sighed.  She knew Ranma sometimes let things slip from his mind, and
decided to forgive him- this time.  "Remember the plan?  To get accustomed
to touching each other and being near each other?"

"Oh... yeah," Ranma answered nervously, and followed her to a familiar
doorway with a duck-shaped plaque on it.  "Phase one then, huh?"

Akane nodded, opening the door.  "Phase one."  She lead Ranma into her
room, closed the door behind them, and looked at her bed.  "Phase one is
easy, remember?  We just... slip under the covers, and go to sleep."

Ranma looked at her.  "You aren't in your nightclothes," he noted.

"Oh, right," she giggled nervously.  "Um, step outside for a minute...
remember, we don't start... showing each other things... until tomorrow. 
Um, you get ready for bed, too, and I'll open the door a crack when I'm
ready."

"Okay...."  He started to head to the door when he remembered something. 
"You know I normally sleep in my underwear, right?"

Akane's eyes widened.  "Oh... right.  I forgot about that... well, can't be
helped.  I want you to be comfortable, so... go ahead and get ready to
sleep as you usually do.  I think I can deal with it."

Ranma nodded and left the room.  Akane looked at her pajamas, and nearly
selected the set with the cartoon cats decorating them before she realized
she needed to consider Ranma's phobia.  "Well, guess I won't be using those
again for some time," she said to herself as she pulled out another set
with little pigs on them- and frowned realizing they reminded her too much
of the whole P-Chan thing.  Finally, she took out the last piece of
nightclothes she had- a little yellow nightgown that she had almost
outgrown.  'Well,' she thought, considering the hem line it showed.  'If
he's in his underwear, I might as well be in this thing.  That way, he
won't have an unfair advantage.

Finished changing, she opened the door a crack.  Ranma had been waiting for
her, and finished opening the door before she could retreat to her covers.

Akane couldn't help but notice how well Ranma's undershirt showed off his
muscular chest, and Ranma likewise couldn't resist a brief glance at
Akane's long legs, but they both passed it off with a mere blush, trying
desperately to not say something the other would think was perverted. 
Akane led him inside, closing the door behind him again, and took him to
the bed.  They stared at the bed for several minutes, saying and doing
nothing.

"Well... we'd better get to bed, or we'll have trouble waking up in the
morning," Akane finally said.

"Um, yeah, I guess," Ranma acknowledged intelligently.  They both continued
to stare at the bed.

"Oh, this is stupid," Akane spat, flipping up the covers and crawling into
the bed.  "Come on in- I don't plan on biting."

"Uh...."  By this point, Ranma's brain had almost completely shut off, but
what remained of it followed Akane's orders and slipped him under the
sheets next to her.

"Um... could you reach over and turn off the lamp?" Akane asked.  Again,
not really thinking about what he was doing, Ranma reached over and pulled
the cord, shutting off the lights.  Akane adjusted the sheets so they were
both well covered, and turned her face towards him.  "Good night, Ranma,"
she said sweetly.

"Good night," he answered automatically.  He was still unable to comprehend
what he was doing... and because of that, he fell asleep in only a matter
of minutes.

Akane listened to his steady breathing for a few minutes before smiling and
leaning over towards him.  "Thank you for doing things the way I wanted you
to," she whispered, kissing him on the cheek.  Shortly thereafter, she too
was asleep.

Sometime after she fell asleep, her arm reached over and pulled him closer.
 For some reason, Ranma, whose dreams were starting to turn into a
nightmare about dangling from a bridge holding onto nothing but a thin red
string wrapped around his fingers, suddenly was soothed into a deeper and
much more pleasant sleep.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

---
Sir Desaix, member # 116 of the Knights of the True Fiancee
                             desaix@sysnet.net
    http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/7872
                           fanfics available at 
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/7872/fanfics.htm